The President of the United States says at a press conference in Washington that he looks positively on a meeting with his Russian counterpart.
President Putin wants to see peace, I think, and Zelenskyj wants to see peace.
He says that an exchange of territories "likely" will be part of the peace agreement.
It's not that simple, actually really complicated. There will be an exchange of territories, to the benefit of both, and we will talk about it either later today or tomorrow or when it happens.
Big victory for Putin
His statement is in line with information from Bloomberg that Washington and Moscow are striving to reach an agreement that would consolidate Russia's occupation of several Ukrainian territories.
According to sources, Vladimir Putin demands that Ukraine hand over the entire eastern Donbass area and the Crimean peninsula to Russia. Putin is also said to want to freeze the front line in Cherson and Zaporizjzja. According to sources, the United States is working to convince Ukraine and European leaders to support the agreement, which would mean a major victory for Putin.
However, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyj has previously repeated that they are not willing to give up territories occupied by Russia and that it is against the country's constitution to hand over land.
The plan is essentially similar to the proposals for peace negotiations that Trump previously presented. It also matches several of the peace demands that Putin has previously presented.
A meeting between the leaders is expected next week, according to previous information.
Zelenskyj: Russia is delaying
The White House has previously said that Zelenskyj will participate in a meeting with the two, but according to sources, Trump is "open" to a meeting with only Putin. The White House still prefers a three-party meeting, said its press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Thursday.
Zelenskyj said on Friday in his daily speech to the nation that he sees no signs that Russia is approaching peace.
Ukraine's position is very clear: the path to peace must begin with a ceasefire. We are ready for this, as well as for meetings at the highest level in different formats. From the first seconds of the war, we have wanted to put an end to it. Russia is the only reason for the delay.
